Alice Evans and the Order of the Phoenix
by hermymad
Summary: With a question mark still hanging over the Dark Lord's return Alice, Harry, Ron and Hermione must return to Hogwarts with a growing sense of unease. Events soon begin to spiral out of their control and for someone this year at Hogwarts will end in tragedy, with terrible consequences for everyone.
1. Home is Where the Heart Is

Home is Where the Heart Is

It was without doubt the worst birthday Alice had ever had, and not just because she found herself crouched alone and cramped on the stairs listening to shouting from the living room. It was much worse than that and had started long before.

The plan had been a simple one. Harry was to have arrived around midmorning, they would have had lunch, the three of them; Harry, Sirius and Alice, and then they would have had the afternoon to do what they wanted (play Quidditch probably) before having a small party in the evening. The problem wasn't that the plan had gone wrong so much as it had never had the chance to happen in the first place. That morning Harry had been attacked.

Alice didn't know all the specifics, largely because people were refusing to tell her; the only things she knew for sure were that Harry wasn't coming, the party had been cancelled and her birthday was on hold. Not that she cared, she just wanted to know what was going on. From what she had managed to gather listening at keyholes however, it sounded bad.

Harry hadn't been in his aunt and uncle's house when it happened he had been outside somewhere and had been attacked by a Death Eater. Who exactly it had been she wasn't sure, but then neither were the adults, she had heard much speculation from them as to the identity of the assailant and she didn't suppose they'd find out until someone spoke to Harry, whenever that was going to be. The next snippet of information she had been able to glean was that her brother had been expelled, how or why she hadn't a clue, but almost as soon as this bit of information had filtered through to her she overheard that Dumbledore had intervened and now Harry wasn't being expelled. Her latest reckoning of the whole affair was that Harry was being forced to stay with the Dursely's for his own protection as the enchantments there would keep him safe. Fat lot of good they had done so far.

It was largely because of this that Sirius was currently closeted in the living room with Hogwarts Headmaster and yelling at him loudly enough to alert the next village, which given that it was six miles away was quite a feat.

"I don't care what you think is for the best, Albus! Harry should be here where we can keep an eye on him, keep him safe. It's not as though those enchantments you've got in Little Whinging are doing him much good are they? He could have died today and it's damn lucky that he didn't."

"Now, Sirius," Dumbledore's voice was as soft and as measured as always. You could be forgiven for thinking he hadn't just spent the last fifteen minutes having his eardrums assailed by her irate godfather. "He is safer with his family, you know that."

"His family?!" Sirius roared. "What are Alice and I then? Old socks?!"

"You know what I mean Sirius," Dumbledore's voice remained calm, "the enchantments which protect Harry are not tied to Alice, but to his aunt, it is imperative he remain there for his own safety."

"Because that's worked fantastically so far." Alice could just imagine Sirius' scowl as he said this.

"Now, Sirius -"

"Don't now, Sirius, me. I'm not one of your students any more, Dumbledore. The fact is whatever charms you've got protecting Harry have failed. They didn't stop a Death Eater marching into Little Whinging and nearly killing him, and from what you've told me of these spells they only work if he stays shut up inside anyway and you can't possibly ask the boy to remain a prisoner for the rest of the summer."

"You exaggerate slightly Sirius, the spells are powerful and it was only because Harry was so far from his aunt and uncle's that they were weakened. The fact of the matter is that it would take months of spellwork, even by myself, to achieve the same levels of protection here as Harry has in Privet Drive."

"What if her were somewhere that had _years_ of protective enchantments upon it?" There was an odd note to her godfather's voice.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment. "I know how you feel about the place Sirius, I couldn't ask you to -"

"You're not asking me."

Alice leant towards the door, willing her ears to pick up sounds of movement so that she could build up a bigger picture of what was going on behind it. Sometimes she wished she had Harry's invisibility cloak so that she could just sneak into the room and watch unnoticed, then again her brother had once told her that he suspected Dumbledore could see through it. Her brother. Harry. Who had nearly been killed and no one was telling her anything, forcing her to lurk behind closed doors and attempt to decipher cryptic conversations.

"What about Alice?"

Her ears pricked up again as the Headmaster mentioned her name.

"She'll understand," Sirius responded. "I'll talk to her, and if she doesn't want to come… well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Very well, it is your decision Sirius, I will agree to Harry leaving the Dursley's only so long as he is going there. But for now, I'm afraid that I must be going. I have a meeting with Fudge at the Ministry, I received a rather agitated owl from him earlier today and I suspect he is rather upset about a lot of things. I will take my leave."

Hearing movement from behind the door Alice scurried up to her room where she remained even after she heard the click of the front door indicating that the Headmaster was gone.

"Alice," she heard Sirius' voice calling up the stairs.

Alice crept down again and sought out her godfather who was now sitting in the living room, staring contemplatively into the fire. On the wall an elaborate clock of gold and wood ticked repetitively overlaid by the insistent buzzing of a bee trapped somewhere in the room. On a table by the enormous chair Sirius had occupied there was a folded copy of the Daily Prophet and she could just make out the creased headline. _Tall Tales? The Truth About Potter's Disappearance. _"Yes?" She asked all too innocently. Had he realised she was snooping earlier? Did she really care? Surely she was justified in trying to find out what was going on considering no one would tell her?

"I want to talk to you about something."

Alice waited patiently for him to elaborate, but when he proceeded to stew in morose silence she soon found the need to prompt him. "Ok."

With a slight shake of his head Sirius was roused from whatever apathetic funk he seemed to have fallen into and glanced up at her.

"It's about Harry."

"I thought it might be." That got a slight smile from him.

"I'm sure you heard that Dumbledore was here."

Alice snorted. "I think half the county probably realised that Dumbledore was here."

"Hmph, well I need to talk to you about it."

And about time too, Alice thought.

"Since Harry's attack -"

"Which you still haven't told me about properly," she cut in.

Sirius gave her an assessing look. "If you are about to pretend you haven't been listening at keyholes then don't even bother. You are James' daughter and you're far too friendly with the Weasley twins not to have picked up a few tricks."

Alice stayed quiet, but there was a smile playing about the corners of her mouth. She quickly sobered again once Sirius began to speak.

"I want him out of Little Whinging. I feel, and I'm sure you do too, that he will be much safer surrounded by wizards who can protect him, and happier with people who actually care about him, than he ever will be with his aunt and uncle. Dumbledore disagrees... somewhat. He doesn't feel this place is protected enough, so if we want Harry to be with his family then… then we'll need to go somewhere that will be."

There was a pause which turned into a silence and Alice realised he wasn't going to explain any more.

"Which is where?"

"To my parents old house. To Grimmauld Place. It has the highest security of almost any building other than Hogwarts or Gringotts."

"Alright," Alice agreed instantly. It was a no brainer really. Stay here for the rest of the summer without Harry whilst her brother was stuck with the Dursley's or go to some unknown house, formerly the residence of Sirius' dark relations, and have her brother's company for the rest of the summer? Harry won that particular competition every time.

"Are you sure?" Sirius pushed. My… Grimmauld Place isn't like your usual wizarding home. It's not like here or the Burrow. My father was a paranoid lunatic who insisted on the highest and most dangerous security. Parts of that old place will kill you as soon as you step on a floorboard wrongly and as for my mother. I don't think I've ever meant a more unpleasant, repugnant, foul – well…" he cleared his throat awkwardly, "she wasn't exactly the loveliest of people. There's a reason, more than one actually, that I left that house when I was sixteen."

Alice just looked at him stubbornly.

Sirius smirked and muttered something about parental similarities as he ran a hand across his eyes. "Ok," he blinked tiredly at her. "We'll get packed up and move as soon as we can. Then hopefully Dumbledore will let us rescue Harry."

It took Alice a grand total of five minutes to throw her belongings into her trunk. Literally. Archimedes watched her critically from his perch atop the curtain rail as three jumpers, a shelf-full of books and five odd sock were jumbled together. Two sets of school robes were deposited on top for good measure.

"Make sure you have everything you need," Sirius remarked as he walked past her open door. "It's a while till term starts and you'll need all of your things to take to Hogwarts on top of that."

Alice glanced at her trunk, heaved an exaggerated sigh and then redid the entire process. "Is that better than?" She asked the owl as she folded the last pair of trousers and laid it on top of her belongings. With a few exceptions she had managed to fit nearly everything she owned into the trunk. It was neat, precise and much more up to her usual standards than the haphazard muddle she had tossed in earlier.

If she had been given her way they would have set off straight away for Grimmauld Place, wherever it was; Sirius still wasn't telling. They had to wait, according to her godfather, until the following day so that arrangements could be made. What these were she neither knew nor cared. Alice took herself off to bed early so that the next day would come all the sooner. In reality what happened was that she lay wide awake for hours more, tossing and turning, worrying and wishing by turns so that in the morning she emerged from her room a bleary-eyed, irritable mess.

"Can't we go now?" She asked Sirius the moment breakfast was finished and she had cleared away the dishes.

"Have patience," he responded. "We need to arrange things first. Remus will come here to keep an eye on the house and certain precautions need to be taken with my parents' old place. Remember, I said parts of the house are dangerous. Someone needs to go in and make it liveable first."

So Alice waited. Grudgingly. Every minute was torture, especially since she wasn't even allowed to go far from the house which meant flying was utterly out of the question. Every five minutes she would demand of Sirius when they were leaving and receive an increasingly exasperated reply. Eventually her godfather set her to packing up things they would need from the kitchen, supplies, pots, pans, that sort of thing. As Sirius said, he wouldn't eat from anything that had been languishing in that kitchen for the last ten fifteen years. By the time Alice had to spend a second night in her bed she was almost tearing her hair out. She had never thought she would want to leave her home so much.

Finally, and thankfully, they departed the next morning. Sirius apparated and Alice clung onto him for dear life with the arm not occupied in holding onto Archimedes cage. The owl didn't seem overly impressed by the new mode of transport. When the world had stopped whirling she found herself standing in a dull, grimy and rather smelly street. The dullness, despite the fact it was the beginning of August and the sun was high in the sky, could be attributed to the high walls of the buildings set either side of the narrow street, the smell from the pile of rubbish bags they had only narrowly avoided apparating into. It certainly wasn't what Alice had been expecting. By all accounts the Black's had been a prominent and affluent wizarding family, albeit a bigoted and completely mental one. She had pictured their residence as being somewhere... well, cleaner, if she was honest. Somewhere that reflected that wealth.

"It's not any better on the inside," Sirius commented wryly catching sight of her expression.

"I never said a word," she responded solemnly.

He was right however, inside wasn't much of an improvement. Dank walls met dusty floorboards, covered with stale, moth-eaten carpets. As they shuffled inside the floor creaked wearily beneath her feet and the smell of something... disused and ancient filled her nostrils. Gas lamps flickered like ghoulish eyes from the high walls.

"Come on," Sirius looked edgy and skittish, his eyes roaming over the musty rooms, reminding her of the man who had escaped Azkaban. "I'll show you to your room."

Obediently she followed him up the stairs, pausing at the foot to turn towards a set of thick, heavy curtains adorning the wall. It couldn't have led to a window, not considering the location of the house in the street, but all the same she was sure she could hear something muffled struggling to emerge from behind it, as though someone were shouting far away and she couldn't quite make out the words. Sirius never once broke his stride so she scrambled to follow him.

As she followed him through the house Alice found herself turning several times as something flickered in the corner of her vision; a shadow or a puff of air. It was as though the house was breathing. As she heaved her suitcase and the cage up, Alice craned her neck over the banister to see how far the spiralling staircase actually went, it must have gone up for at least three or four floors and looking down she saw that it went down further than it should. There must be additional floors below the street level too.

"Here we are." Sirius broke through her daze by opening a door on the landing they found themselves on. You can sleep in here. It's been cleaned up a bit, but still..."

"It's lovely." Alice struggled over the word as she stepped in. Someone had obviously dusted recently, wide clean stripes marked the surface of the chest of drawers, the dresser, where she placed Archimedes, and the mantelpiece revealing the dark mahogany beneath the ghostly layer. A broad double bed stood in the middle of the floor, emerald curtains, faded with age hanging from the ornate frame, the bed sheets however, were cotton and flaming red. Clearly Sirius, or someone, had attempted to make her feel at home.

Putting her case down on top of this Alice crossed to the window and attempted to heave it open; it stuck halfway. Still it did allow a wisp of fresh air to creep into the room. Glancing around she saw her shadowy reflection in the spotted, speckled mirror looking distinctly sceptical. Quickly she schooled her face to cheerfulness. This would be a small sacrifice to allow Harry to come and live with them again.

Smiling winningly at her godfather, she told him, "I'll have it spruced up in no time." She meant it too. As Sirius clattered around the house, brooding sullenly and doing goodness knows what, Alice found her way down to the austere, yawning kitchen, located an underused bucket and rag, before traipsing back up to her new room. For the rest of the day she scrubbed, rung, and swept, battering the curtains to within an inch of her lives to remove dust, until the room was deemed liveable. Archimedes, who had been let out of his cage and immediately assumed his customary position on top of the nearest wardrobe, watched her critically, hooting occasionally when she missed a spot. By dinner time she was exhausted and the minute she had finished her meal, kindly provided courtesy of Sirius, she collapsed into bed and fell asleep.

The next morning she was woken by the sound of gently knocking and someone calling her voice.

"Ali, Al, come on, wake up."

She sat up bleary eyed and disorientated, trying to work out where she was.

"Alice, come on. There's someone here to see you."

At that her eyes flew wide and she bounded from the bed to the door in two broad leaps.

"Har – Hermione!" Her expression turned to one of surprise as she saw her best friend loitering nervously behind her godfather.

"There's no need to sound so shocked," Sirius hissed from the corner of his mouth. Alice threw him a glare as she sidestepped him and enveloped her friend in an enormous hug.

"It's so good to see you – I didn't expect... what are you doing here?"

"I got your letter about Harry, and I wanted to come and visit so... here I am!" Hermione smiled tentatively as though suddenly doubting he wisdom of her decision. "Do you mind?"

"Mind?! Of course I don't mind you daft twit! It's great to see you. You will stay won't you? She can stay, can't she?" Alice turned to Sirius, eyes shining out from beneath her tousled curls.

The first laugh Sirius had probably ever initiated in that house tumbled from his lips. "Why not?"

A hearty breakfast of sausage and eggs soon drove away the last vestiges of sleep which hung to Alice's pyjama-clad body. Between forkfuls she filled Hermione in on events, or the events she had covered only sketchily in her letters. Afterwards her day followed much the same routine as the one before except she had a bit more help and the room she was attempting to make liveable was for her brother. Hermione's presence drove the task on tremendously and even Sirius was forced to help out so that by mid-afternoon there were at least two places in the forsaken old house which had some life about them. She saw no more of the flickering shadow that had dogged her steps the day before.

The cheerful mood that they had managed to keep up for most of the day was dashed however, when an owl arrived late in the evening from Mr Weasley. It informed them that Harry was to appear before a Ministry inquiry into his use of magic.

"Do you suppose Harry will get into awful trouble?" Hermione whispered that night as they got ready for bed. Since there was plenty of space the two girls were sharing a room. It was better than being alone in the drafty emptiness at any rate. "They can't do anything to him surely? The statute for underage wizardry allows magic in extreme circumstances if your life is in danger. So he didn't break the law at all."

"No, of course," Alice tried to inject more confidence into her voice than she felt. "He'll be fine, and we'll see him in the morning so we'll be able to keep an eye on him."

"Stop him from wandering into any more scrapes," Hermione's tone was reproving in the darkness as the two girls clambered under the blankets.

Alice snorted. "Hen-pecked more like!"

Hermione giggled and the two girls kept laughing until they fell asleep.

Alice's first inkling that her brother had arrived the next morning came when there was a loud clatter from the hall, several distant voices grunted and muttered among themselves as Hermione jumped up from the breakfast table with a squeal of delight. This was almost instantly drowned out by an endless, ear-piercing shriek.

"_THIEVES! THIEVES! BLOOD-TRAITORS! INTERLOPERS! MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS FOULING MY HOUSE! GET THEM OUT!" _The screeching bile poured forth from the hall where, after a confounded look at each other, the two girls sped off.

Once there everything was chaos, people were milling around everywhere, Sirius was yelling and hauling at the curtains which had hung against the wall as, and Alice had to blink at this, a grizzled and grubby house-elf danced around his legs. It was what lay behind the curtains that commanded her full attention however.

"_OUT!_" An old woman in a black cap raged out at them from the frame of a life-size portrait. Yellowing eyes rolled as she growled her hatred through crooked teeth. Other portraits were beginning to yell too as Sirius finally managed to haul the curtains together.

"Oh, shut up you miserable old bat!" he yelled, disentangling the house-elf from his legs as he did so with a rough flick. The elf went shuffling off into the dining room, muttering what she could only assume were curses under its breath.

Alice watched the entire exchange from the top of the stairs, her hand frozen on the banister and her eyebrows raised in bewilderment.

"Now," her godfather seemed to dust himself off and straighten his jacket. "Sorry about that everyone." He turned to the newly arrived group still clogging up the hallway. "Harry, lovely to see you m'boy!" He held out his arms and stepped forward to give Harry, who Alice had completely forgotten about up until this point, a hug.

The minute he had released him Hermione ducked in to choke any remaining life from his lungs.

"Alright, Hermione," he spluttered, patting her on the back and prizing her gently away. "I'm fine, you can let go now. Alice!" He grinned, spotting her.

"I'm glad you're here too," she grinned at him, "I'll not strangle you to prove it." Everyone seemed to have made the decision to ignore the hysterical portrait so Alice decided she might as well join in the charade.

"Let's move this into the kitchen, shall we?" Alice didn't miss the cautious glance Sirius gave the smothered portrait as he suggested this.

The group trooped obediently down the stairs and for the first time Alice paid attention to someone other than her brother. Rather surprisingly, since she had only seen him the previous morning and he hadn't mentioned he would be fetching Harry, Remus was there. He smiled at her and nodded. Mad Eye Moody was there too and she timidly greeted her former professor; there was a young woman with a sweet face and impish smile – and a considerable quantity of shockingly pink hair; a towering, wizard sporting a single gold earring and whose bald head gleamed in the light of the pale gas lamps who was currently engaged in conversation with her godfather. Three other wizards were there too, one in an enormous orange top hat almost as large as the man himself, a gentleman with sandy hair and an old man who seemed to wheeze with every step he took; taking up the rear was a witch dressed in emerald green and appeared to be a younger, less stern looking version of Professor McGonagall.

As they all shuffled into the kitchen and there was a general scraping of chairs Alice busied herself fetching the kettle as Hermione rooted around in the cupboard for cups.

"Can't stay long, Sirius mi'lad," one of them was saying. "Got to be off again. I'm on duty tonight."

Once tea had been brewed and the cups distributed Alice tucked herself into a chair next to her brother. Unusually for someone who had nearly been murdered and expelled in the last few days, he was grinning broadly.

"What are you so cheery about?" She asked.

"Nothing," he continued grinning. "Just glad to be back."

Alice smiled back conspiratorially. "How've you been?" She sobered as she spoke.

"Not too bad," he shrugged, the smile slipping from his face. "Could have been better I suppose."

Hermione snorted loudly from her seat opposite them. "Honestly, you two could win prizes for understatement."

The twins glanced at each other. They didn't mean to do it really, but conversation was unnecessary at times. Alice knew that Harry didn't want to talk about things in front of an audience, but that he was worried about things and perhaps a little angry too. She also realised that nothing would stop him feeling happy at being back where he belonged in the wizarding world and away from the Dursley's. He knew that she was concerned and didn't want to show it.

Hermione understood all this too, she was just frustrated by it.

"So," Alice changed the subject slightly, "who are all these people?"

Harry grinned again at that. "My rescue party. They tricked the Dursley's into going away for the weekend and broke in to get me here. It was brilliant!" He didn't seem in the least bothered about why he had needed rescued in the first place.

Before she could think up a suitable response, they were interrupted. "I don't believe we've met before." The pink haired woman on the other side of Harry suddenly leant across and extended her hand, nearly sending his tea flying in the process. "I'm Tonks. Very pleased to meet you."

"You too, I'm Alice," Alice murmured in response as her hand was vigorously wrung. "This is my friend, Hermione."

The two exchanged hellos. "You have an amazing hair colour by the way," Tonks informed her, "do you mind if I borrow it for a bit?" And without explaining this rather bizarre question she promptly screwed up her nose in concentration and her bubble-gum pink locks faded to a deep red.

Alice's jaw dropped open.

"How did you do that?!" Hermione almost squealed in curiosity. "Oh, wait! Are you a Metamorphmagi?"

The moment that Tonks confirmed that she was indeed a magical shape-changer, Hermione began to bombard her with questions, forestalling any further conversation. Alice smiled and settled back with her tea, glancing around the room at all the other wizards who were slowly filtering towards the door, bidding goodbye to Sirius and Harry as they went. She assumed Dumbledore must have sent them to rescue her brother; she would have to ask him. It was just one of a great many questions she wanted answered and now that she knew Harry was safe she wasn't going to hold back in doing so.

A/N: So we're back with Book 5! Bit of a slow start I know, but I wanted to set everything up before we dived back in with everyone!


	2. Belated Birthday's

Belated Birthday's

Alice had just stepped onto the landing outside her room two mornings later when she heard hushed voices coming from the kitchen doorway below. She had awoken from yet another nightmare featuring Bellatrix Lestrange and had been on her way for a glass of milk when the voices interrupted her thoughts. With a stifled yawn she crept over to the banister and listened.

"Apparently he's back."

"Are you sure?" That was Sirius' voice. It sounded harassed.

"That's what Sturgis heard. Apparently _he's_ spoken to Dumbledore about it." The second voice sounded like Remus.

Her godfather snorted. "I still don't see why that -"

"Because he's useful. They trust him and he can get us information from the inside." Remus cut him off.

"But can we trust him?"

Alice could imagine the amused exasperation on her old professor's face at her godfather's reluctance to trust whoever they were discussing.

"I don't think we've got much of a choice."

There was a grunt from below followed by the creak of floorboards as they began ascending the stairs towards the hall. Alice ducked back from the banister in case they spotted her. They weren't still talking about Sturgis Podmore surely, were they? He had been the sandy haired man who brought Harry to Grimmauld Place a few nights before and she hadn't sensed any antagonism between him and the others at that point. No, whoever they were talking about was someone Sirius _really_ didn't like. Which meant it could have been any one of a number of people.

"What are you doing?" The hiss in her ear caught her by surprise and Alice twitched nervously.

"Eavesdropping," she whispered back as Hermione stepped out from behind her.

Her friend looked at her reprovingly.

"What?" Alice asked innocently. "You never learn anything if you don't eavesdrop."

"You'd probably get in trouble a lot less too, not that we'd know." She sniffed, which turned into a yawn as she stretched widely, balancing on her tiptoes as she did so.

Alice grinned. "You love it really, come on, let's go and get some breakfast."

They had just sat down to a pile of gently steaming toast each when Sirius re-entered the kitchen. "Where's Remus gone?" Alice asked after wishing him a good morning.

Did she imagine Sirius' hesitation at her question? Her godfather turned away from them and busied himself with the kettle. She definitely hadn't imagined it.

"He just popped round with something, he couldn't stay long. He said to say hello."

Alice opened her mouth to probe further, but she suddenly experienced a shooting pain along her shin as Hermione's slippered foot connected sharply with it. Despite the fluffy, padded layer it still hurt. She shook her head in warning. Alice scowled. If Hermione had heard half the things she had, she would have been asking questions too.

"Anyway, what are the three of you going to be getting up to today?" Sirius asked as Harry came yawning into the room, still in his pyjamas and with his hair sticking sleepily out in every direction.

"Cleaning again?" It was all they had done since they arrived, not that you would really know to look at the place. It was still dark and dingy and the furniture was a lost cause in Alice's opinion. Her godfather had spent hours the day before trying to fix a wobbly-legged chair only to have it collapse completely the moment he tried to sit on it. He had stomped from the room, muttering under his breath, only to almost trip over Kreacher on the way out which had led to a protracted bout of shouting.

Kreacher, Alice had discovered, was the shadow which had been following her around when she first arrived. A wizened and irascible individual he hated everything and everyone living in the house, though for Sirius he reserved a particular antipathy, matched only by her godfather's own loathing of the scrawny creature. As her godfather had ranted his way into the kitchen the house elf had slunk across the room, glowering at the three Gryffindors before snatching a duster and a silver cup from the table, wrapping one in the other and scuttling back out again.

"Just let him take it," Hermione had told Harry when he made to follow.

So far as Alice could tell, Kreacher had made no impact on the cleanliness of the old house whatsoever, which left it to them to make the place liveable. Over the last two days they had largely left the hallway alone, every time anyone so much as sneezed in there the portrait of Sirius' mother would start to shriek hideously driving them all out. It was a wonder Sirius had managed to remain sane at all.

As the three of them scraped doxy droppings from the carpet some hours later Alice took advantage of the fact Sirius had gone to make lunch to fill the others in on what she had overheard.

"You don't think they meant You-Know-Who, do you?" Hermione looked wide-eyed, her hand frozen on the scraper. "They would have told us if he was... back, surely."

The others snorted their opinions on this before returning to the scrapers.

Alice pondered Hermione's words for a moment, matching it up with things Harry had told them about his attack. He'd been coming back from the corner shop - the Dursley's had sent him for a pint of milk – when he had been attacked from behind, tripped by some spell and sent sprawling across the pavement. He'd only managed to half turn by the time someone had set upon him with a knife, he still had the long scar across his arm that his assailant had managed to bestow upon him before Harry had been able to fend him off. Casting a shield charm in a public place, in the middle of a Muggle dwelling site had been what had gotten him expelled; apparently it was banned under Article _Stupid _of the International Statute of Secrecy. She supposed it was Dumbledore's machinations that had gotten him un-expelled, but there was still going to be an investigation.

"Maybe that was why you were attacked?" She wondered aloud.

"How do you mean?" Harry asked, as though his being attacked by a knife-wielding nutter was simply par for the course, which to an extent it perhaps was.

"Well, maybe if Voldemort -" Hermione dropped her scraper loudly, "- maybe if he is back then the Death Eaters are getting bolder, or maybe the two things were related."

"But if You-Know-Who was back," Hermione was playing Devil's Advocate now, "wouldn't he want to kill Harry himself?"

"Maybe he wasn't trying to kill me." Harry didn't sound at all pleased by this prospect.

Hermione rocked back onto her heels and folded her arms crossly. "Ok, explain that one please. Do you think he was trying to make friends?"

Harry grinned at his girlfriend's stern expression before sobering up. "Well, he backed off far too quickly when Mrs Figg showed up. Now, this might just be my opinion, but she's not the most terrifying of women even if he hadn't known she was a Squib. If he had been prepared to kill me why not just polish her off and then finish what he'd started? All I'd done was conjure a shield charm and I was lying on the street in a puddle of milk. I didn't exactly look like a threat."

Alice had to concede he had a point. "And you still don't know who he was?"

Harry shook his head. "No, he looked familiar, but for the life of me I can't remember where I've seen him before."

On a wanted poster probably, Alice thought.

Hermione started grilling Harry for the fifth time since he had arrived about exactly what the Death Eater had looked like, Alice tuned out and went back to her scraping. The answers were unlikely to be any different from the last time.

By the middle of the afternoon Alice had taken herself off to help Sirius de-clutter some of the kitchen cupboards. She loved her brother and her friend, and she wanted to spend time with them having not seen them all summer, but it was painfully obvious that they wanted some time to be alone together.

"You alright there, Al?" her godfather leant down to help her drag a box from beneath one of the bottom shelves.

"Fine," she smiled blowing dusty hair from her eyes. "Do you want to keep any of the stuff in here?" She held up the box for his inspection. Sirius examined the contents gingerly, amidst a goodly amount of feathers, fluff and spider webs there lay a cracked china teacup, a fountain pen which seemed to have leaked ink into the box, a photo frame, a grimy locket and a mantle clock.

"I think we can safely chuck that lot," Sirius nodded towards the pile that was to be taken to be disposed of later. It was rather considerable. "Oh," her godfather turned to her, "I almost forgot, we got an owl from Arthur this afternoon, apparently Ron and the others have been worried about Harry, and they've noticed a few people snooping around at the Burrow, so I invited them to come and stay here for a while, is that alright?"

Alright? By the time the Weasley's arrived at the front door the following day she was practically skipping with excitement.

"Calm down, Midget!" The twins laughed as she gave them all enthusiastic hugs. "It's not like you've never seen us before."

"You're right," she grinned up at them, "it'd be difficult to forget those ugly mugs." She ducked as they made a swipe at her.

"Shh," Hermione warned her, nodding towards the covered portrait which was snoring loudly. "You don't want to wake the dragon up."

Alice took her point and ushered the Weasley's swiftly into the kitchen. Once Ron, Ginny, the twins and their parents were crowded into the long narrow room it instantly acquired more life than at any other point since Alice had arrived. Perhaps it was something to do with a large quantity of red hair brightening the place up, maybe it was just the Weasley's unquenchable joy for life, but it made Alice smile.

"Now, Harry dear, how are you? Are you alright? You look a bit peaky still, it must have been such a shock."

"Leave him alone, Mum," Ron muttered as Molly began fussing over Harry and quizzing him about his attack. Harry shrugged her questions off after answering them awkwardly for a few minutes.

"He's fine, Molly," Sirius assured her breezily, "no need to fuss, I'm taking good care of them all."

Mrs Weasely made a noise that may have been a snort of disbelief or could just have been choking over her tea. Alice glanced between her godfather and Ron's mother.

"Well, you've certainly managed to do a lot with the old place, Sirius," Mr Weasley cut in looking curiously round the kitchen. As spotless as Alice and the others, who had eventually decided to join her, had managed to make it, an air of gloom still clung to the kitchen. She supposed it came from being in a basement, and the decor probably didn't help much either.

"Well, so much as can be done." Her godfather agreed, he was still on edge from having to be back there she noticed. "Still, having more people about ought to brighten it up. And on that note," he turned to Alice and Harry, "now that everyone is here I reckon we can finally have that birthday party we've been putting off."

"Gosh, is it your birthday, Midget?" George asked. "You should have told us, we'd have come prepared."

"We didn't even know you had one," Fred added.

Alice ignored them with a roll of her eyes.

It didn't actually take long to get the party set up. Sirius had obviously been planning it and produced a box filled with banners and bunting from somewhere and then proceeded to gleefully decorate the kitchen, with some help from the others. Mrs Weasley rolled up her sleeves and with Ginny's help whipped up a birthday cake as Alice, Hermione and Ron were put in charge of sandwich making.

"Ron," Hermione chastised him for the tenth time. "Will you _stop_ eating all the filling! We're not going to have anything left to put in the sandwiches at this rate!"

"I di-ent oo any-fing!" Ron muttered from around a mouthful of cheese.

Alice grinned. She had missed this.

Thankfully however, they managed to save enough sandwiches from Ron's ravenous appetite to produce a sizeable feast which was followed by the best birthday cake Alice had ever seen. Mrs Weasley really was a culinary genius considering the ingredients that had been available to her in the Grimmauld Place kitchen. She had crafted a cake shaped like an enormous Gryffindor Lion, complete with a scarlet shield and their names written around the edge in icing.

"Thank you so much, Mrs Weasley," Alice beamed at her once the candles had been blown out and everyone finished cheering. She felt oddly emotional at the whole thing.

"Not at all, my dear. And how many times must I tell you? Call me Molly."

"Thank you, Molly." Struck by a sudden impulse Alice gave her a hug.

A tender arm returned the gesture. "You're welcome my dear." The rather croaky statement was followed by a loud sniff.

"Can we do presents now?" Two identical voices interrupted. Alice looked across to see the twins grinning eagerly and holding something behind their backs.

"That depends on whether or not the present is going to blow my eyebrows off or not," Alice grinned at them as she tried to catch a glimpse of what they were holding.

"Of course they won't," Fred grinned at her. It wasn't an expression which put her entirely at ease.

"Happy Birthday, Evans." George smirked as he presented her with a wand. "There's one for you too, Harry."

Alice glanced at her brother sceptically as she reached out to take the proffered object, shooting one last look at the twins as she did so, for any indication that something unpleasant was going to happen. Clearly these weren't real wands, they could never afford a gift like that, so what were they?

She received her answer after several moments when the wand, with a loud squawk transformed into a parrot which took off from her hand in a flurry of feathers and swooped around the heads of the startled onlookers. As it settled on top of the teapot there was a burst of blue light as the parrot became a wand once more.

"Cool," Alice breathed. "Can you show me how to do that?"

"Yeah," chimed in her brother, who was watching the jewelled sword in his hand curl back up into a simple wooden stick. "That was neat."

"Trade secret unfortunately. Couldn't tell you if our lives depended on it."

Alice rolled her eyes at their theatrics as the others echoed her sentiment and congratulated Fred and George. She noticed that Mrs Weasley didn't seem as enthused about the pranks as everyone else.

In all Alice managed to amass quite a respectable haul: the joke wand, a tiny owl charm for her bracelet, a Kestrels t-shirt, more sweets than she could shake a broom at, and from Harry she received a set of books on great achievements in Transfiguration.

"Right, my turn then." Sirius winked at her as he ducked out of the room leaving the Potter twins to wait curiously to find out what their gifts were.

"Here we go," their godfather strode back into the room, grinning broadly holding out two large, suspiciously-shaped packages. "Happy belated birthday."

The form and heft of the package told Alice everything she needed to know about its contents, but she still would have taken her time opening it if Harry hadn't already been busily tearing the paper from his own. She followed suit and quickly two identical brooms were lying out on the table. Not just any old brooms either, gleaming brightly, the twigs all pristinely shaped and clipped, they were –

"A Firebolt."Harry was gazing, slack jawed, at his gift. "You bought us a Firebolt. Each."

"Well, it was about time that Alice got a proper broom of her own and you've had that Nimbus a few years now, it's about time you got a new broom."

There was a commotion from behind them as the Weasley siblings surged forwards to take a closer look, chattering excitedly and without a hint of jealousy. Even Hermione who hadn't a clue about brooms was only a beat behind them.

Alice hugged her godfather tightly. "Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder. "You shouldn't have."

"Nonsense," he pulled back and patted her cheek affectionately. "Of course I should. Besides, I have far more money than could ever be healthy for me. Who else will I spend it on if not you and Harry?"

"Well, I still think you're daft," she smirked at him, "but I do love you for it."

She hugged him again and smiled happily as Harry came across to thank his godfather similarly.

"Midget, are you sure you're going to be able to handle this thing?" Fred asked teasingly.

"If it's a bit too fast for you we'd be happy to take it off your hands." His brother chipped in.

Alice ignored them and moved back towards her broom which was currently being adoringly stroked by Ron and Ginny. It really was the most fabulous thing she had ever seen, the goblin made iron-work fit snugly around the ebony handle as though it had dropped off the tree like that.

"Are the twigs hazel or birch?" Ron was asking. "I'd go for birch, myself, more speed when you're ascending."

"I think they're hazel," Ginny squinted at them critically.

Hermione leant in, the sort of expression on her face she adopted when she was trying hard to look interested in something she hadn't a clue about. "Is that good?"

"Better turning power," Harry informed her appearing over her shoulder. Hermione looked up at him and smiled affectionately as he returned the look before his eyes skipped excitedly from her face to his new pride and joy.

"I still can't believe I'm sitting in a room with _two_ Firebolts!" Ron said in an awed, hushed voice later that evening as they sat in the room he was to be sharing with Harry. The brooms occupied pride of place in the middle of Harry's bed and still drew enamoured looks.

"I still think Sirius is mental," Alice spoke fondly of her godfather.

"Gryffindor will be unbeatable this year if you're flying that thing," Ron looked as though he was in love.

"What are you going to do with your Nimbus, Harry?" Alice asked him, the thought suddenly striking her. In all the commotion she had entirely forgotten that her brother already had a perfectly functioning, not to mention expensive, broomstick.

Judging by the expression on his face, Harry clearly had not been so absent-minded. "I don't know, I'd hate to get rid of it or sell it, it's like a part of me, but then it doesn't deserve to sit in a broom cupboard forever either."

He sat looking pensive whilst Ron glanced wistfully towards the corner where the Nimbus in question was propped.

"It'd be a shame to get rid of it," Hermione agreed.

Alice could tell, just by the expression on her brother's face, what he was going to say a split second before he opened his mouth. "Ron... would you take it? Just to look after it for me?" He added as Ron turned to look at him slowly. The redhead couldn't have looked more stunned if Harry had just announced his intention to take up goblin wrestling professionally.

"What?"

"My Nimbus, like I said, I don't want it to gather dust, but I can't just give it to anyone. You'd be doing me a favour really."

"You're giving me your Nimbus 2000?" Ron repeated blankly. Alice could see wonder, suspicion and excitement chasing each other across his face. Never in his whole life had he been given such an expensive and longed for gift, but he had also spent his life receiving other people's cast off's and to add Harry's to the list might be too much for his pride.

"Only until I crash the Firebolt and need it back again," he joked.

Ron continued gazing at the broom in silence for several seconds. Harry continued to watch him as Alice glanced towards Hermione who pulled an anxious face. If Ron took this the wrong way then it would probably lead to a fight. Or at the very least Ron would be in a bad mood for a few days.

"You're the only person I'd trust with it Ron," her brother added sombrely. Really for someone who spent quite a lot of his time being unbelievably thick her brother really did have a modicum of intelligence.

"Mate..." Ron began, eventually reaching for the broom, "thanks." A slow smile spread across his face as he sat examining his new prize. Alice smiled in relief and it turned into a laugh as she heard Hermione do exactly the same thing.

"What's funny?" Harry asked her, utterly nonplussed.

"Nothing," she answered with a grin and a conspiratorial glance at her best friend who was now sitting giggling. "Just... boys."


	3. A Trial of Patience

A Trial of Patience

"Hermione, can you please stop pacing?! You're making me dizzy."

At Alice's request Hermione paused and blinked in surprise as though unaware she had been wearing a circular hole in the floor around the table for the past half an hour.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I just wish I knew what was going on. They've been gone nearly two hours!"

Harry had left with Sirius and Mr Weasely for his inquiry at the Ministry that morning and they hadn't been allowed to go with him. Hermione wasn't reacting to this very well.

"Sit down and have a cup of tea dear," Mrs Weasley poured a cup and pushed it towards her. Taking up her knitting once again Ron's mother sat down and continued to click the needles together anxiously.

"Why don't we play Exploding Snap?" Fred produced a pack from his pocket and looked questioningly round the table.

"Not me," Hermione sat down pulling the tea towards her. "I'll just watch. My hair's still recovering from the last game we played." She fingered the singed ends of her hair gingerly.

"I'm in," Ron shuffled up a few chairs until he was sitting next to Alice and his brothers. As an afterthought he grabbed another sandwich from the plate in the middle of the table and placed it protectively in front of him.

"Gin?" George asked. His sister was curled up on the rug on the floor playing with Crookshanks.

"Sure, why not?" She rose, taking the cat with her, and took her seat.

Fred began to deal out the cards. "You playing, Evans?"

Alice gave him a look, questioning why he had even bothered asking the question and began picking up the cards he was already laying out for her.

As the group sat shuffling their cards into manageable handfuls Hermione continued to glance worriedly towards the door. Even as Crookshanks wandered along the table, tangling in people's arms and generally getting in the way, she barely batted an eyelid, just scooped up the cat and began petting him absently. Crookshanks mewed plaintively as she scratched his head. Clearly he didn't want affection.

"Hermione," Alice's voice held a concealed giggle, "I think Crookshanks is probably going to object in a minute."

"What?" Hermione looked blankly at her friend then down at the cat, which had begun to hiss. "Oh." She let him go and he leapt from the table spitting irritably. "Sorry." Alice wasn't sure if she or Crookshanks was receiving the apology.

"He'll be fine, Hermione," Alice reached across and squeezed her friend's hand. "It's Harry, of course he'll be fine, and if he's not, Dumbledore will look out for him."

"She's right, Hermione," Fred nodded wisely as he began turning over cards.

"How do you know?"

"Gut feeling," he responded, patting his stomach. "Either that or the chocolate frog I had earlier was a bit funny."

"He was defending himself," Ginny said with certainty. "They can't do anything to him for that."

From the corner of her eye Alice caught Mrs Weasely's slight catch of breath and shift in her seat as this was said. For the first time a flutter of apprehension, which she had been forcefully suppressing all morning, made itself felt in her stomach. What if something did happen? Was it possible that Dumbledore couldn't scrape Harry out of whatever hole he might have gotten himself into? Surely the Ministry would realise that he had used magic only as a necessity and that as a result he hadn't broken any laws? What if-

"SNAP!" George's yell and the resultant bang as he threw his matching cards down jolted her from her swirling thoughts. Alice gave Hermione's hand another squeeze and focused on the game before her.

"Come on, Evans," Fred complained some time later, "it's like you're not even trying."

"How could you tell?" She glanced up at him as she lost the game for the fifth time in a row. He was smiling, Fred was always smiling, but there was concern flickering in his eyes too. "Stop worrying," he whispered.

"I'm not," she hissed back.

"Liar."

Alice gave him a gentle shove with her shoulder. "Shut up."

"Alice -"

She looked sharply at him as he used her real name for a change.

"- you know that -"

"_HARRY!_" Hermione's screech broke through their hushed conversation and sent everyone around the table flying to their feet.

In time honoured fashion her brother had barely moved two paces into the room, a weary looking Mr Weasley behind him, when Hermione flew from her seat and flung her arms around his neck. Slightly unusually Alice was only several paces behind her.

"Everything alright?" She whispered letting her brother go. One look at Harry's face told her that everything was definitely _not_ alright. As she spoke, Sirius followed Mr Weasley into the room looking stony faced.

"Well, he didn't get expelled," her godfather announced to the room, "but other than that it couldn't have gone much worse. Fudge is just an old -"

"Sirius!" Mrs Weasley admonished at his choice of words.

"Well, he is," Sirius grumbled under his breath stomping across the room and slumping despondently into the chair newly vacated by Alice.

"What happened?" Hermione was looking worriedly from face to face, twisting her fingers into an anxious knot.

"They had him up in front of the entire Wizengamot," Mr Weasley went over to stand by his wife as Alice and Hermione led Harry into a seat.

"What?!" Mrs Weasley's voice reached new octaves. "I thought it was just a simple hearing, a few officials at most surely?"

"Nope, it was the whole kit-and-caboodle. Down in Courtroom Ten. Fudge was there, and some foul woman, what was her name?"

"Umbridge," Harry and Mr Weasley spoke at the same time.

Alice let out a long, low hiss. It was the sort of noise Crookshanks made whenever Ron entered a room.

"You know her?" Sirius asked.

"Of a fashion."

"We had a bit of a run in with her in our third year," Hermione added when this was the only response Alice gave. "She interviewed us when Hagrid's hippogriff attacked Malfoy."

"Why did they have the entire Wizengamot there?" Ginny asked impatiently.

"Fudge is getting fed up with Dumbledore, he was trying to get one over on him." Sirius' dark voice rose from the table.

"Dumbledore was there?" Ron asked. Alice noticed Harry's face darken slightly as their friend said this. Clearly there was another story there, she didn't ask then though as the current story seemed to be taking long enough to tell.

Mr Weasley nodded. "Fudge resents Dumbledore's popularity, he always has, and Harry's too probably. With everything that happened, last year especially, he feels he needs to exert his authority. Coming down hard on Harry is the perfect way for him to that."

"If this was about Dumbledore," Alice voiced her thought as it occurred to her, "then surely it would have been better if he had stayed away?"

Sirius shifted in his seat in a way she knew meant he agreed with her.

"It wasn't entirely his fault," Harry informed his godfather charitably. "Fudge is just..."

"Will one of you please just tell us what happened and stop dancing around the issue?!" Ron sounded exasperated. "This is worse than trying to get Trelawney to tell me what's for breakfast tomorrow!"

"Basically, I mentioned Death Eaters and Voldemort," half the room flinched visibly at that, "and they all freaked out. Umbridge started calling me a liar, the whole room was in uproar and no one let me talk very much after that. Fudge was all set to expel me again before Dumbledore showed up. He calmed them all down and talked some sense into half of them. Convinced them I wasn't some sort of psycho lunatic that would go around attacking everyone. They still didn't believe me really though."

"So you got off then?" George asked.

Harry shook his head. "I'm on probation. I have to report to a Ministry official for monthly assessments and to have my wand checked to make sure I'm not performing any unacceptable magic."

There was a beat of silence and then the whole kitchen exploded in outrage. Hermione was rattling off complaints so quickly that Alice couldn't follow it, the Weasley siblings were all muttering darkly to each other, their faces like thunderclouds and Mrs Weasley resorted to her default setting of shouting at her unfortunate husband.

"Surely there must be something you can do?" Hermione's voice rose above the din. "Is there not an appeal process or something?"

"I doubt that would help," Harry sounded morose.

"Maybe Dumbledore could -"

"No." There was a strange catch in Harry's voice as he said this that made Alice scrutinise his face for several seconds. There was something he wasn't telling them. "I'm tired, I'm going to... head upstairs for a bit."

Before anyone could protest this decision Harry turned and left the room.

Her brother spent the next few days being tired and irascible whilst his friends tried their hardest to be understanding, a task made more difficult by the fact that they all had quick tempers. It wasn't until several days later that Harry finally confessed what else had been wrong.

"I thought everything would be alright once Dumbledore turned up, that he would convince them and explain everything, but he barely spoke to me, he just showed up, said his piece to the Wizengamot and then left the minute it was over. It was like I wasn't even there."

Hermione watched as Ron and Harry slowly shuffled pieces around on the Wizards' Chess board. "Perhaps he was just busy, you know how many pressing matters he has to deal with."

"It's never stopped him before," Ron pointed out in a moment of unexpected clarity. "I mean, I know he's mysterious and pretty much mental, but he's never ignored Harry before."

Alice made a noise that was the start of a sentence before thinking the better of it.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Nothing," she focused her eyes on a bishop which was currently putting up a fierce resistance against the knight attempting to smash it from the board.

"Alice."

She glanced back up and rolled her eyes. "Alright... It's just... It's a bit of a stretch to say Dumbledore is always there for you. I mean, sure, he usually swoops in at the last minute or he's sitting in the shadows pulling all the strings, but he was quite happy to leave you for ten years, quite happy to lie to the both of us for twelve, and it didn't faze him at all to leave you at the Dursley's this summer, even after the attack. I heard Sirius have a fight with him to get you to come here."

The others thought about this for a few moments.

"She has a point, mate." Ron agreed.

Harry said nothing, but stood and walked to the window.

"Harry?"

"I guess..." He continued to stare out through the grimy glass. Try as she might Alice hadn't been able to clean the outside very effectively. "Alice, are you still having those nightmares?"

She jumped at the question; she had been trying to hide them from her friends, clearly she wasn't doing a good enough job of it. "Only a little." The lie slipped out with practiced ease.

"I heard you muttering in your sleep the other night," Hermione explained. Alice made a note to put the silencing charm back in place around her bed.

"It was just a one off," Alice reassured them.

Harry huffed from his window. "It just makes me so mad! They attacked us, hurt you so that you still get nightmares -" involuntarily Alice's hand twitch towards the scar on her cheek. It had faded now to a pale pink, stretched tight across her face. Thanks to Madam Pomfrey it was less noticeable than before, but she was still conscious of it. "-attacked me in the street," Harry continued to rage, "and the Ministry still don't believe us. Voldemort could be back any day now, he might even be back already, and what are they doing? NOTHING!" He flung himself irascibly onto the bed after this final explosion and glared accusingly at the ceiling.

"Calm down, Harry," Hermione attempted to pacify him as she went to sit next to her boyfriend. "You yelling loud enough to wake up Mrs Black isn't going to solve anything."

"I feel better though," he muttered.

As though on cue there was a series of loud cracks followed by the immediate appearance of the Weasley twins.

"Good afternoon, Harry."

"We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"Mum says dinner is ready if you want to share your rantings with the rest of the house."

"Not that you weren't already." They smirked at him.

"Thanks for letting us know."

Alice could tell that Harry wanted them to go away so that he could continue his discussion with his friends. But Ron, who had only needed to hear the word dinner, was already on his feet and making for the door.

"Oh come on then," with something almost akin to a smile, Harry got to his feet as Hermione followed suit.

As they all left, Alice caught sight of her face in the ornate mirror which hung on the wall of the room Harry and Ron shared. Checking that the others had left she paused a moment, turning her face to examine her cheek. It was still there, curving along her jaw and up the side of her face. A stark reminder of what had happened. Experimentally she crinkled her eyes, watching the scar, pull and tug with her cheek.

"Hey, Midget," came a soft voice from the doorway. Spinning sharply, Alice saw Fred standing there and her expression became obstinate.

"What?"

Fred's smile didn't falter as he walked towards her, if anything the aggression in her voice made his expression widen.

"Don't let it get to you," he reached up a hand, "it just shows that you're as fierce on the outside as you are inside. I know I would think twice before tangling with you."

Alice froze as his fingers touched her cheek, gently tracing the line of her scar.

"I'd probably still do it anyway, mind you, but I'd think twice about it."

That drew a laugh from her.

"That's better," he tugged on a loose lock of her hair. "Come on, Evans, let's go and eat, shall we?"

The last few weeks of summer continued largely as they had before Harry's hearing; the Gryffindors cleaned what felt like every inch of 12 Grimmauld Place, turning as many furnishings from green to red as they felt was reasonable to get away with, and tried to catch any whisper of Voldemort's return. The adults were being particularly vigilant however, and these efforts came to nothing. The only difference now seemed to be that Harry's temper was shorter than ever, and Alice's nightmares were getting worse again. If the Daily Prophet was to be believed then Bellatrix and the other Azkaban escapees had fled to South America. However, since the paper had printed a six page expose detailing Harry's trial and how he had escaped justice only through the meddling of Albus Dumbledore, Alice was disinclined to believe a single word it said.

Alice was sweeping out a particularly suspicious smelling cupboard under the stairs on the last day of the holidays, when Hermione came looking for her with Ron and Ginny trailing dustily in her wake.

"Molly says the book lists have arrived, they're in the kitchen."

Alice wandered down with the others to collect her envelope from the pile on the table.

"I suppose this means they've appointed a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher then," Sirius observed from where he was making himself a cup of tea. "Dumbledore was having a problem finding someone for the job."

"I'm not surprised," Harry replied.

"Well, whoever they are," George observed looking over his list, "they've set a real page turner. We've got to read _Defensive Magical Theory_, by Wilbert Slinkhard. Sounds like that'll be a riveting read."

"I'm surprised you'd read it at all," Ginny smirked at him. "It's funny though, we've been set that one too." She showed George her list as her brother stuck his tongue out.

"And us," Harry added.

Alice noted Hermione hadn't said anything yet, which considering they were talking about books was unusual.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Her friend was staring at something in her hand with wide eyes. "Hermione?"

"I've been made prefect!" The statement came out as a squeak. "Prefect!" Her expression turned to one of sheer delight as she looked up at Alice. "I'm a prefect," she repeated in case anyone had missed the news.

"Well done!" Alice reached over and gave her a hug, soundly squashing the tiny part of her that pointed out she hadn't been picked for the role. Hermione was the clear and only choice really. "Congratulations."

The others were all piling in to offer their own congratulations when Ron spoke in a clear voice. Up until this point, Alice hadn't really been aware that he had stayed silent.

"So have I."

Everyone stopped dead.

"What?"

"Say that again?"

"Are you sure?"

Fred went over and whipped something small and golden from Ron's hand, scrutinising it under the light. "It's a prefect badge alright," he eventually declared. The badge was passed from hand to hand as Ron looked shell-shocked. He wasn't the only one. As Alice examined the tiny golden P printed on scarlet enamel she glanced up to see the strained expression on her brother's face as he clapped Ron on the back.

If Hermione had been the obvious choice for prefect, then so had Harry. She could guess what he must be thinking now Ron had gotten the job.

"Have you all got your lists for me then?" Mrs Weasley marched into the room with a pile of washing under her arm and a distracted look on her face.

"Ron's a prefect, Mum," Ginny said.

"He's a what, dear?" Mrs Weasley held a jumper up to see which of her offspring it belonged to before folding it neatly.

"A prefect, Molly." Sirius winked at Alice conspiratorially as she glanced over to him.

Mrs Weasley's squeak was, if possible, even louder than Hermione's. Alice was surprised that the glasses in the kitchen remained intact.

"Oh my goodness, let me see, let me see, oh will you look at that, another prefect! Of course I always knew..." Mrs Weasley rushed at her youngest son, who, looking a little alarmed was quick to submit the badge to his mother's examinations. "Oh come here, Ronniekins..." the rest of his mother's rambling was lost to Ron's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him.

"So proud, so proud," she was still mumbling a few minutes later after they had managed to sit her down at the table and Sirius had brought her a cup of tea. "Of course we'll have to get you something. All the others had something too. You've already got a new broom, so what would you like? An owl? New dress robes?"

For a moment Ron seemed torn, she wasn't sure if it was the enormity of the occasion or the possibility of getting rid of the lacy monstrosity that were his current robes which was causing him such confusion, but he stared blankly at his mother for a few moments.

"An... an owl I think." He croaked eventually.

Alice tried to control her expression of surprise. She would have put money on him choosing new robes.

"Well, I can do something about the robes, can't I?" He reasoned. "I can't magic an owl out of thin air."

"Right, right, well that's settled then." Mrs Weasley beamed over her tea at Ron. "You can come with me to Diagon Alley this afternoon and pick something out."

They all sat there chatting for a while, or rather listening to Mrs Weasley praise Ron effusively, before handing their lists over to be purchased.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Evans," George told her as the others left the room. He must have noticed her wistful expression. "We didn't get made prefect either."

"Yeah, they're prejudiced against twins," his brother added.

Alice snorted. "Yeah, that'll be it." With a wry grin she followed them out into the hall.


End file.
